


For better and for worse (but mostly for better)

by morporkian_hobbit



Category: Lupin III
Genre: Actual Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Multi, OT3, Polyamory, date, it's always going to be at least ot3 for me, they all have two hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:48:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24770311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morporkian_hobbit/pseuds/morporkian_hobbit
Summary: The last few heists have been a string of successes, and the Gang is taking a few days off. Lupin decides to take this opportunity to organize a date with his two boyfriends, for a special occasion...
Relationships: Ishikawa Goemon XIII/Jigen Daisuke/Arsène Lupin III
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25





	For better and for worse (but mostly for better)

**Author's Note:**

> I woke up at three in the morning last night and this is what my brain spat up instead of going back to sleep. I hope y'all enjoy my insomnia-fueled fluff drabble.
> 
> Big big thanks to my beta, J, who started his correction email with "You bastard, you absolute fucker". Your comments made my day!

It was a beautiful mid-spring evening in Kyoto, the air was warm and a soft breeze pushed a few strands of white fluffy clouds around in the pink and orange sky. The gang had spent the afternoon enjoying Hanami, the traditional cherry-blossom watching festival, to Goemon’s great delight. They weren’t often in Japan at the right time of the year, and whenever the samurai could, he took a vacation from their incessant travelling to attend on his own. Not this year, though. They were all in their homeland for once, and had just completed a heist which would allow them to live in comfort for a while before having to make more plans. Therefore, Lupin had decreed that they were all to take the day off and attend the festival together. It had been a peaceful and relaxing afternoon, much different from their usual adrenaline-fueled adventures or their nights of reckless fun at the casino. At the end of the day, they had all internally promised themselves that they’d do it again.

Now that nightfall was edging near, they had all boarded a small leisure boat that Lupin had rented – for no apparent reason other than to spend a nice evening with his partners. If Goemon and Jigen were surprised at all, they didn’t show it. Lupin had decided to treat them to a nice date, they had no reason to complain. However, the gunman couldn’t help but notice that their leader had been acting a bit off lately. The last heists he had planned had been a streak of easy, fail-safe gigs that ensured them a large amount of money with minimum risks – interrupted by the occasional high-stake theft, since Lupin basically lived off adrenaline. More concerning, he had noticed Lupin would put away most of his share in some hideout somewhere, saving it for later instead of blowing it all immediately as was his custom. If he didn’t know him better, Jigen might have thought Lupin was thinking of retiring.

“What is the occasion we are celebrating?” Goemon eventually asked, as the onboard chef – this boat had an actual kitchen, Jigen realised with surprise – brought them a massive platter of artistically crafted sushi more suited for a party than for a casual date.

“Are you trying to coax us into one of your crazy schemes again?” Jigen added. “Sushi won’t be enough for that, pal.”

Lupin relaxed into his seat and smiled, waiting for the chef to disappear out of view.

“We’re celebrating our fifteen years of partnership,” he declared finally, looking at both his partners with a soft smile.

Goemon and Jigen looked at each other, a bit startled.

“It hasn’t been fifteen years already, has it?” Jigen asked, brow furrowed under the brim of his hat.

“Sixteen for us two, and a bit under fifteen since Goemon joined us,” Lupin replied.

“Jeez. I feel old.”

Besides feeling old, he mostly felt that he had been stretching his luck, and he knew that the same thought has crossed both his partners’ minds. It was rare for someone in their line of work to last this long. While he knew perfectly how much he owed to his incredible skills and those of Goemon and Lupin, he still silently thanked the poor overworked guardian angel who had the misfortune of watching over him, and prayed that their luck would last.

“Fifteen years don’t seem like such a long time, spent in your company,” Goemon broke the silence. “I hope we are granted many more.”

“So do I!” Lupin exclaimed as he poured some sake into the small cups that had been brought along with the food. “Here’s to many more years of successful partnership, but more importantly, many more years of love!”

Jigen nodded and raised his glass. He wasn’t one for grand declarations, but Lupin’s enthusiasm always profoundly touched him.

Goemon mirrored the gesture. “To us,” he simply declared.

They all drank, after which Lupin enthusiastically exclaimed:

“Alright, who wants sushi?”

They talked and laughed, making the meal stretch far into the night. The reminder of their fifteen years together had lead them to reminisce on the adventures they had lived through, the many times when they had fought together – or against each other - and all the times they had thought they were goners, but which now only remained as funny anecdotes. Their life together had never been easy, but despite the many obstacles they had faced, despite their vastly different personalities, despite their occasional clashing arguments and rivalries, they had managed to make things work. From the outside, their little group seemed like a well-oiled machine. In truth, they were a family, with its inevitable ups and down, but at the core bound by love and common choices.

Of all of them, Jigen was the most prone to feeling nostalgic, and often dwelled on the decisions he had taken throughout his life, the mistakes he had made, the paths he had ignored. But in the end Lupin and Goemon were always there to remind him that all of it had led them together. He might not say it as often and as openly as Lupin did, but he truly loved them.

Goemon didn’t speak as much as the thief and the gunman did, as words had never been his favoured way of expressing his feelings. But he listened and nodded and laughed when they did, and the few times when he spoke, it was to fondly recall the string of events that had brought him to this time and place. Beyond the adventures, the treasures, the travels and the sights, what truly brought him joy was the presence of his two companions by his side. A thief, a gunman, a bottle of sake and a long night of simple happiness were all he needed.

It was nearly midnight when they finally finished eating. The pitcher was as empty as the plates, and they soon fell into a contented silence, all enjoying the calm of the night and the beauty of the city lights on the river.

Lupin was the first to break the silence.

“Guys… If we’re here tonight, it’s not only to celebrate the time spent together.”

Jigen scoffed.

“Oooh, so you do have a heist you want to convince us to pull. I knew it.”

Lupin shook his head, but his smile remained.

“No, it’s not that. I told you, there’s no business tonight. I just want to spend time with my beloved partners. It’s a rare occasion, so we might as well make the best of it.”

“Then what is it, Lupin?” Goemon chimed in.

The thief bowed his head and closed his eyes, as if he was trying to figure something out, or gather up the courage to talk. This wasn’t like him, but neither of his partners made any remark. Whatever Lupin was about to say, it was important.

“I have known you both for fifteen years,” he declared after a moment of thoughtful silence. “Fifteen years… That’s the longest I’ve stuck around with the same people, in my entire life. Including my family. There’s been so much that’s happened in that time, and you two are the only constants in my life. You’re always there with me, standing at my side, supporting me, keeping me going. I hope I’ve done as much for you as you have done for me. The times we’ve spent together haven’t always been easy, but they’re the best period of my existence, and I wouldn’t change that for all the diamonds in the world.”

There was something in his voice, Jigen thought. Lupin was still his confident, outspoken self, but there was _something_. Something unusual. A crack in his certainty, a tremor in his words… like emotions threatening to burst out. Lupin was still smiling, no, beaming, and his words echoed what Jigen had always been thinking since they’d met, and what he knew Goemon thought as well. Yet that little something in Lupin’s voice made Jigen nervous. He and the samurai both stayed quiet, waiting for their partner to get to the point he was making – Goemon with his habitual patience, Jigen with a bit of worry.

Lupin rubbed a nervous hand in his hair and continued.

“What I’m trying to say, is… This life is dangerous, we’ve risked dying so many times and I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you. Yet you’ve always followed me to the end the world and back. I’m grateful to have such amazing partners.”

Jigen and Goemon looked at each other, nervousness turning into confusion. They were used to grand declarations of love from their partner, but this emotional speech was something else. It wasn’t often that they opened up to each other – they all knew what they felt, and that was that, there was no need for words.

Lupin looked both cheerful and uneasy when he added:

“So, I should have done this way earlier. But it’s better late than never, right?”

The thief rose to his feet, and suddenly the realisation hit Jigen.

_He’s going to quit._

_He’s going to quit and retire to keep us out of danger._

_He can’t_ fucking _do that!_

Goemon’s face was unreadable, save perhaps for a shadow of confusion and waiting for whatever was about to happen. It came as a shock to both of them, when Lupin knelt down on the wooden floor, pulled a small case out of his jacket, and opened it.

Inside, two rings shone like small suns under the colourful lights of the city’s nightlife, though they didn’t shine nearly half as bright as Lupin’s smile.

“Daisuke Jigen, Goemon Ishikawa… will you do me the immense honour of becoming my husbands?”

There were a few seconds of wide-eyed silence, that stretched on for a century, only troubled by the gentle clapping of the water around them, and the distant white noise of the city.

It was shattered when Jigen suddenly burst out into nervous laughter, to both his partners’ surprise. Goemon had turned bright red and nearly fell off his chair, and Lupin was now the one looking confused, as Jigen folded over, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes.

It took him a moment to gather his calm again, while Goemon put a grounding hand on his shoulder, and Lupin looked at him wide-eyed from his spot, still kneeling on the floor.

Silence fell again, for just a second, until the gunman looked his partner in the eyes.

“Wait… you’re actually _serious_?”

“He is,” Goemon replied, before taking his hand off his partner’s shoulder and turning to the thief.

“This isn’t a joke, Daisuke,” Lupin said softly. “I’m dead serious.”

Jigen looked at him in complete bewilderment, then at Goemon, then back at Lupin.

“…Damn,” was all he managed to say.

They had talked about it before. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to the gunman, really. They had been an ‘us’ for years now, more than Jigen could count. Both he and Lupin had mentioned the possibility in passing, more as a joke than as a real thing that would happen, though Jigen really did secretly want it to happen. Goemon had never suggested anything, but Jigen remembered his tender smile as he declared ‘I wouldn’t mind’ the last time they had drunkenly joked around the issue. The gunman himself had entertained the thought of saying ‘I do’, in those long hours before dawn where he couldn’t sleep and his whole world was just the soft breathing of his sleeping partners and the warmth of their hearts near his.

He had never imagined one of them would actually do it.

Yet here Lupin was, kneeling before him and Goemon, heart and feelings wide open, showing more trust and vulnerability that Jigen could ever allow himself to.

The gunman discreetly glanced at Goemon from under his hat. While not as shocked as the older man, he was deeply flustered, and if Jigen was reading his face correctly – which he knew he was – the samurai was going through the same train of thoughts as him.

“But…” the gunman muttered, “how is that going to work? There’s three of us. That’s not… legal?”

“Since when do we care if something is legal or not?” Lupin retorted.

“Jigen has a point,” added Goemon. “Whether legal or religious, there is no ceremony that would allow all three of us to be married to each other.”

“Don’t worry, guys, I’ve planned everything. I just need one last confirmation. Will you, or will you not, marry me?”

Jigen and Goemon’s voices joined in perfect unison in one eager shout:

“YES!”

The beaming smile on Lupin’s face was back, and he jumped to his feet to embrace his partners. All three of them nearly fell over under the strength of the thief’s enthusiasm, and strong arms closed around him to hold him near while he buried his face in the crook of the samurai’s neck.

“This is the happiest day of my life,” he muttered, his voice muffled by the fabric of his partner’s clothes.

“Is it?” Goemon retorted in a teasing tone. “I thought it was when you stole that Renaissance painting that had been confiscated from your grandfather’s collection.”

“Wait,” Jigen chimed in, “wasn’t it when we saved that girl who had been kidnapped by a bunch of cultists and you discovered a massive treasure under her house?”

“Shut up,” Lupin muttered with a stifled laugh, “both of you!”

Goemon chuckled and ran a hand through the gunman’s messy hair.

“This is the happiest day of my life,” he declared, “knowing that I get to spend the rest of it with you two.”

Something in Jigen’s heart melted on the spot, and he buried his face between his two partners.

“Shit, guys, you’re going to make me cry…”

Lupin let them huddle together for a moment, basking in the utter joy of the moment, before he gently pulled himself out of the mass of tangled limbs that he called his boyfriends – no, his fiancés.

“Well, technically, I am engaged to both of you. Now all we need is for one of you to- ”

Jigen and Goemon’s gazes crossed, and they both reached out at lightning speed for the box Lupin had set down on the table. The gunman was faster, and a split second later he was on one knee, cheeks reddening and box open in front of him, acting like a shield as much as an offering.

“GoemonIshikawatheThirteenthwillyoupleasemarryme,” he exclaimed, face getting redder by the second.

“-propose to the other,” Lupin finished with an amused smile.

“It would be an honour,” Goemon replied, his face almost as red as Jigen’s.

The gunman pulled his hat over his face and stood back up to face both of his partners. Lupin pulled out a second, smaller box from him pocket and held it out.

“And then you say I go too fast,” he laughed as he opened it to reveal the third engagement ring.

Goemon shook his head, badly hiding an amused smile, and took the box from Lupin before sliding the ring onto the thief’s finger. He then let Jigen do the same for him, relishing the touch of the gunman’s calloused yet soft fingers on his hand, and finally watched as Lupin took care of the third ring. The thief grabbed both of their hands and held them up against the night sky. The bands of silver outshone the twinkling stars, but to the three men they would have outshone the whole sun.

“For better and for worse?” Lupin asked.

Goemon put his head on the thief’s shoulder, and Jigen squeezed his hand. Their two voices were one when they answered:

“For better and for worse.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not planning to write the rest, but just know that Pops WILL be invited. After all, Lupin needs someone to walk him to the altar.


End file.
